Shoulder pad arrangement for a violin or viola

ABSTRACT

A carrier strap is resiliently clamped to the back of a violin or viola. A helical spring mounted on a slide movable along the strap is attached to a shoulder pad by an internally threaded connector disc on the spring and a threaded stud on the pad. The spring permits universal pivotal movement of the pad and biases the pad toward a normal angular position. The pad may be shifted longitudinally of the strap with the slide and threadedly toward and away from the strap, and may be fixed in the shifted position by a set screw on the slide and a lock nut on the stud.

United States Patent 1 Looser, nee Menge et al.

451 Apr. 24,1973

[ SHOULDER PAD ARRANGEMENT FOR A VIOLIN OR VIOLA [76] Inventors: Ursula Looser, nee Menge, 3274 Hermrigen; Max Fluckiger, I-Iolzgasse, 2575 Tauffelen, both of Switzerland [22] Filed: Sept. 20, 1971 [21] Appl.No.: 181,731

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Sept. 25, 1970 Switzerland ..14228/70 [52] US. Cl ..84/280 [51] Int. Cl. ..GlOd 1/02 [58] Field of Search ..84/278, 280, 281

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,747,452 5/1956 Goldenberger ..84/280 932,844 8/1909 Beisheim ..84/280 8/1949 Hall ..84/280 2/1914 Locke ..84/280 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 289,739 1/1916 Germany ..84/278 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-Lawrence R. Franklin Att0rneyI-Ians Berman et al.

[5 7 ABSTRACT A carrier strap is resiliently clamped to the back of a violin or viola. A helical spring mounted on a slide movable along the strap is attached to a shoulder pad by an internally threaded connector disc on the spring and a threaded stud on the pad. The spring permits universal pivotal movement of the pad and biases the pad toward a normal angular position. The pad may be shifted longitudinally of the strap with the slide and threadedly toward and away from the strap, and may be fixed in the shifted position by a set screw on the slide and a lock nut on the stud.

6 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures SHOULDER PAD ARRANGEMENT FOR A VIOLIN OR VIOLA This invention relates to pads for hand-held, bowed, stringed instruments, such as violins and violas, which are engaged by the body of a musician during normal use of the instrument, and more particularly to a shoulder pad arrangement for a violin or viola.

The invention will be discussed hereinafter with specific reference to its application to a violin, but the latter term will be understood to embrace a viola, the two instruments being fully equivalent for the purpose of this discussion.

Many musicians place a small cushion or a folded cloth between their shoulder, normally the left shoulder, and the back of a violin, and press the violin against the cushion or cloth with their chin applied to the front or belly of the instrument, a chin rest being usually attached to the bottom of'the belly. Holding a violin securely in this manner requires skill and a continuous effect which, while practically automatic in a trained musician, consumes energy and makes playing the violin significantly more difficult for the inexperienced.

It has been proposed to replace the usual cushion or folded cloth by a resilient pad clamped to the back of the violin and capable of limited movement relative to the violin body in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the instrument, but such an arrangement still requires substantial skill and more or less conscious effort for balancing the. instrument by means of the chin. The primary object of the invention is the provision of a pad arrangement in which the needed skill and effort are reduced to a minimum.

With this object and others in view, as will hereinafter become apparent, the invention provides an arrangement in which a carrier is provided with clamping means for clamping the carrier to the back of a violin (or of the equivalent viola). A pad is secured to the carrier in a position in which an engagement face of the pad is directed away from the back of the instrument when the carrier is clamped to the same. The securing elements provide a permitting joint interposed between the pad and the carrier for permitting universal pivotal movement of the pad relative to the carrier and yieldably resilient biasing means biasing the pad toward a normal or predetermined angular position relative to the carrier.

Other features and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will readily become apparent as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when considered in connection with the appended drawing in which:

FIG. I is a perspective view of a shoulder pad arrangement of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows the device of FIG. I in enlarged section in the plane lI-II;

FIG. 3 illustrates a violin equipped with the pad arrangementof FIG. 1 in front elevation; and

FIG. 4 shows the violin of FIG. 3 in an. end view taken in the direction of the arrow IV and on a somewhat larger scale.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, and initially to FIGS. I and 2, there is seen a shoulder pad arrangement 1 whose carrier element 2 is an elongated alu' minum strap tapering in width toward'its ends. The longitudinally central portion of the strap is of uniform width and arcuate in cross section for greater rigidity,

as is best seen in FIG. 2.

One of the ends of the strap 2 is offset at right anglesf to form a clamping hook 3 which is coated with rubber guide channels of a slide 8 which may be shifted along the strap 2 and fixed in a selected position by means of a set screw 10. The slide 8 is fixedly fastened, as .by soldering, to one axial endof a helical compression spring 1 lwhose axis is perpendicular to the direction of slide movement in the illustrated relaxed condition of the spring.

The other end of the spring 11 is similarly fixed to a connector disc 12 which is a washer provided with internal threads about the axis-of the spring 11 in the condition of the spring shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The external threads of a stud 13 matingly engage the internal threads of the washer l2, and the relative axial position of the stud and washer may be fixed by means of a nut 15 when the nut is turned on the threads of the stud 13 into locking engagement with the washer 12 by means of a radial arm 14.

The endof the stud l3 remote from the washer l2 and the spring 11 is welded at right angles to a backing plate 16 of aluminum thin enough to be bent manually with some effort, but sufficiently rigid to resist plastic deformation under normal working stresses. The plate 16 is covered by a resilient pad 17 of foam rubber or similar material which envelops all edges 18 of the backing plate 17.

As is evident from FIGS. 3 and 4, the pad arrangement 1 is clamped to the back of a violin body 7 near the bottom of the same by engagement of the clamping hooks 3, 5 with the edges of the back, that is, the imperforate plate of the violin body. The resilient clamping pressure is provided by the strap 2 which is bent into an arc prior to clamping to make the initial spacing of the hooks 3, 6 smaller than the corresponding dimensions of the violin body.

The exposed engagement face of the pad 17 may be shaped to match the musicians shoulder by bending the covered backing plate 16, and the pad may be shifted with the slide 8 and associated elements to a convenient position along the strap 2. The spacing between the strap 2 and the pad 17 in the direction of he spring axis may be adjusted by threadedly moving the stud 13 in the washer l2 and, fixing the selected spacing by means of the lock nut 15. The optimum angle'between the longitudinal axes of the pad 17 and the strap 2 may also be chosen in this procedure, as is seen-best in FIG. 3. It is normally most convenient to arrange the pad 17 near the normal location 19 of the chin rest indicated in chain-dotted lines, but somewhat farther from the bottom end of the violin body 7, the chin rest and shoulder pad, of course, being mounted on opposite plates of the body 7.

When the violin is held between chin and shoulder, it

is fulcrumed on the pad 17 and on the shoulder of the musician so that its weight is partly balanced, the remaining imbalance only being absorbed mainly by the chin. The spring 11 provides a universal joint between the violin and the shoulder pad 17 and simultaneously biases the violin toward the relaxed condition of the spring seen in FIG. 2. By suitably bending the strap 2 and/or the backing plate 16, this position of the spring 11 can be made to coincide with the normal playing position of the violin on the shoulder of its user so that the spring 11 reduces the effort, conscious or otherwise, of maintaining the proper playing position of the instrument. Further adjustment of the pad arrangement to the dimensions of a violin not available from flexing the strap 2 may be made in an obvious manner by bending the lever out of the illustrated straight condition.

After the shoulder pad arrangement 1 has been shaped and adjusted to match the instrument and its user, no further changes are needed under normal conditions, but the arrangement may be transferred to another instrument or used by another musician after changes are made in its shape and dimensions as may be needed.

The spacer arrangement basically consisting of the disc 12, the stud 13 and the nut 15 is interposed between the spring 11 and the padl7 in the illustrated embodiment of the invention; This assembly may be reversed in an obvious manner to interpose the spacer arrangement between the spring 11 and the strap 2.

A single helical spring 11 is preferred because of its simplicity to provide both a universal joint between the strap 2 and the pad 17 and a biasing force tending to maintain a desired angular relationship between the strap and the pad, but these functions gay be assumed by separate elements, or both functions may be distributed among several springs.

Other modifications and variations of the present inc. a relilient pad member having an engagement face,

and

securing means securing said pad member to said carrier member in a position in which said engagement face is directed away from said back when the carrier member is clamped to said back by said clamping means, said securing means including (1) a slide member movable on said carrier member between a plurality of spaced positions, (2) setting means for releasably fastening said slide member to said carrier member in each of said positions and (3) a helical spring having an axis and respective axial ends attached to said slide member and to said pad member, said spring permitting universal pivotal movement of said pad member relative to said carrier member and biassing said pad member toward a predetermined angular position relative to said carrier member.

2. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pad member has a metallic portion and a portion of resilient material formed with said engagement face, at least one of said carrier member and of said metallic portion being substantially rigid, but dimensioned for plastic deformation under manual pressure.

3. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said clamping means include three clamping hooks spaced from each other, and mounting means securing two of said hooks to said carrier member for joint movement relative to the third hook.

4. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said securing means further include spacer means interposed between one of said axial ends and the attached one of said slide and pad members, and including adjusting means for varying the effective length of said spacer means and for thereby varying the spacing of said one axial end and of said one attached member.

5. An arrangement as set forth in claim 4, wherein said spacer means include a connector member fastened to said one axial endand formed with internal threads, and an externally threaded member movably engaging said internal threads and attached to saidpad 

1. A shoulder pad arrangement for a violin type musical instrument comprising, in combination: a. a carrier member; b. clamping means for clamping said member to the back of said instrument; c. a relilient pad member having an engagement face, and d. securing means securing said pad member to said carrier member in a position in which said engagement face is directed away from said back when the carrier member is clamped to said back by said clamping means, said securing means including (1) a slide member movable on said carrier member between a plurality of spaced positions, (2) setting means for releasably fastening said slide member to said carrier member in each of said positions and (3) a helical spring having an axis and respective axial ends attached to said slide member and to said pad member, said spring permitting universal pivotal movement of said pad member relative to said carrier member and biassing said pad member toward a predetermined angular position relative to said carrier member.
 2. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said pad member has a metallic portion and a portion of resilient material formed with said engagement face, at least one of said carrier member and of said metallic portion being substantially rigid, but dimensioned for plastic deformation under manual pressure.
 3. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said clamping means include three clamping hooks spaced from each other, and mounting means securing two of said hooks to said carrier member for joint movement relative to the third hook.
 4. An arrangement as set forth in claim 1, wherein said securing means further include spacer means interposed between one of said axial ends and the attached one of said slide and pad members, and including adjusting means for varying the effective length of said spacer means and for thereby varying the spacing of said one axial end and of said one attached member.
 5. An arrangement as set forth in claim 4, wherein said spacer means include a connector member fastened to said one axial end and formed with internal threads, and an externally threaded member movably enGaging said internal threads and attached to said pad member.
 6. An arrangement as set forth in claim 5, further including a nut member threadedly mounted on said externally threaded member, and turning means for turning said nut member on said externally threaded member toward and away from locking engagement with said connector member. 